Building Stronger Family-School Partnerships: A Three-Part Series on Effective Family Engagement in United Way Community Schools
At United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley, our mission is to strengthen the bonds between schools, families and communities, ensuring every child receives the support they need to thrive academically and emotionally. Recognizing a growing call from educators and community partners, United Way and the Collaborative Action for Family Engagement (CAFE) launched a three-part Family Engagement Series to equip schools with proven strategies for building lasting family-school partnerships.
Family engagement is a core pillar of United Way Community Schools, where schools serve as neighborhood hubs offering wraparound support to students and families. Throughout the Greater Lehigh Valley, United Way supports 34 Community Schools, each fostering meaningful relationships with parents and caregivers to ensure students have what they need to thrive. The Family Engagement Series reinforced these efforts by equipping educators and partners with tools to deepen their impact and remove barriers that may prevent families from being involved in their child’s education.
The series began by exploring how equitable family engagement drives student success. Participants learned that authentic relationships are essential for improving academic outcomes, boosting graduation rates and supporting students’ social-emotional growth. Introducing the Dual Capacity-Building Framework, the first session challenged participants to recognize and remove systemic barriers that often prevent families from engaging fully.
The second session, held in-person at Northampton Community College in Bethlehem, focused on how to integrate family engagement strategies into the Community School work. In partnership with Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium (MAEC), this training’s goal was to educate participants on how to increase family engagement with the schools through the Pennsylvania’s Department of Education Family Engagement Framework. The framework session covered six key standards, including how to connect families to resources to connect goals, interests and needs. Additionally, it emphasized how to build partnerships with families that are strength-based, authentic, reciprocal and respectful.
“Engagement is not just events,” shared Jessica Webster, MAEC’s Senior Family Engagement Specialist, “it is a series of events. We want to focus on high impact family engagement.”
The final, virtual session helped participants develop action plans to sustain their efforts. Using the Plan-Do-Study-Act model, attendees reflected on how to measure the effectiveness of family engagement strategies, adapt to changing needs and celebrate success. Critical reflection questions challenged schools to ensure their efforts are culturally responsive, relationship-driven and linked to measurable student outcomes.
Across all three sessions, the message was clear: authentic family engagement isn’t extra—it’s essential to student success. Families, educators, community partners, and donors each play a vital role in building inclusive, supportive school communities where every child can thrive.
We thank our Community Schools for attending and our sponsors Crayola and Capital Blue Cross for helping make these trainings happen.
Visit the United Way Community Schools page to learn more and donate.